


Let the Rain Come Down

by Amy (InnitMarvelous), InnitMarvelous



Series: Forever Adrift [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Frail Heart, Gen, Howard Stark sucked as a father, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Long Buried Secrets, Lost Long Brother, Original Character(s), Secrets, Twins, Unknown Twin, mentions of Howard Stark - Freeform, mentions of Maria Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-08 18:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15248838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnitMarvelous/pseuds/Amy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnitMarvelous/pseuds/InnitMarvelous
Summary: Tony is about to learn a family secret that will change his perspective of his father forever.





	1. Chapter 1

“He's finally asleep,” Pepper said as she rejoined her husband in the living room. Tonight they had plans, among other things, to watch one of her favorite an old movies together. Tony had agreed to make the popcorn while she finished up tucking Ethan into bed.  

 

However instead of finding a freshly bowl of popcorn waiting for her on the sofa beside him, she found Tony still sitting where she'd left him looking at an unfamiliar piece of paper in his hands. She further realized that he hadn't acknowledged her return to the room at all, and she became concerned when she  realized that he had what could only be described as a lost look on his face.

The plans to watch a movie were forgotten, and gently Pepper sat down beside him, and touched his arm. “Tony, is something wrong?”

 

He blinked, taking his eyes off the paper, and looked at her. “I don't know. I... Here just take a look at this.”

 

She took the paper from him and seeing details she was already familiar with, her eyes skimmed over it. “Tony, why are you showing me your birth certificate?”

 

“It's not mine, Pep,” he replied. “Well it is mine but it's not one I've ever seen before. Take another look at it.”

 

She took a closer look at it, and saw there was another name that preceded his on the paper. “Tony, who is Steven?” She knew what the answer was even before asking the question but like him she was having trouble processing the unexpected information.

 

“My brother, apparently. My _twin_ brother,” he replied, taking the certificate back.

 

“He was born two minutes before me, so that makes him my _older_  twin brother.”

 

“And you didn't know _anything_  about him until this moment?”

 

“No, I knew nothing about him. I probably never would have known if SI legal department hadn't decided to do some cleaning out of the old legal papers they have in storage.” Tony laughed humorlessly before tossing the files onto the coffee table.

 

“So what are you going to do?” Pepper asked after a moment of quiet.

 

“Well, I could attempt to track down my Mom’s lawyer and _if_  he’s still alive, interrupt whatever he happens to be doing right now.”

 

“Or?”

 

“ _Or_ I can watch the movie my wife has been wanting for us to watch together forever,” he said, and pulled her closer to him.  

 

“Tony, are you sure? We can always watch this another time,” she said, settling her head onto his shoulder.

 

Tony wrapped his arm around her, laying a kiss on the top of her head, “Of course, I’m sure. JARVIS, start the movie.”

 

“Yes, Sir.”

 

As Pepper snuggled further into his side and the opening credits of the movie started, Tony knew he’d never be able to say what the movie was about later as his eyes glazed, and his thoughts turned towards about the father he had lost, had lost all because of the brother he never knew he had.

 

* * *

“Hey, how long have you been up?” Pepper asked softly from the nursery door. It had been two days since Tony had made the accidental discovery about his twin brother, and she knew he planned to fly to east to find out the answers to his questions.

 

“About an hour,” he answered just as softly, as not to wake their son who was sleeping away contentedly in his arms.  

 

Pepper came in and sat down beside him, and ran her hand through the baby’s fine hair. “Did you get any sleep?”  

 

“Not much,” he admitted, watching her hand. “I think I’m just too scared of what else I might find out on my trip… and I wish I wasn’t making it alone.”

 

“I know, I wish you weren’t either but there are a few things going on here that I just can’t ignore.”

 

“Are you going to be able handle taking care of work and Ethan by yourself?”

 

Pepper nodded, “I should be able to. I may not be able to go with you but I think I’ll be able to take care of what needs my attention and take care of him at the same time. I think I’ll probably be able to work from home while you’re gone.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“It’s just that I don’t have to, you know, this trip right now. I mean it’s probably going to wind up being a wild goose chase and--”

 

The redhead silenced him by touching his cheek, and drew his eyes up to look into hers. “Tony, I know the possibility of what you might find out has you scared but I also know that this is something you _need_ to do. You need to find out where Steven is buried so you can bring him home, and lay him to rest right where he belongs.” His eyes fell down to the baby again.

 

“Besides, I know you and I know that if you don’t do this, it will eat at you until it drives you completely insane.”

 

“Yeah, it would,” he agreed. “Well, _insaner_. You know that I’m already insane enough as it is without this adding to it.”

 

“I’d argue with you on that but you really are you know.”

 

“Certifiably?”

 

“Absolutely!”

 

“You know, I probably should be offended at that but all I want to say is… and what does that make you just as insane since you married me?”

 

“I think most everyone in the world would say, yeah, that makes me insane because I married you. But you know what? I really don’t care what they think because I _love_ you.”

 

When he looked at her again, she saw the question in his eyes, and with a smile said, “No.”

 

“But, Pep, you don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

 

“Oh, yes I do, and the answer has to be no.”

 

“But--”

 

They were cut from any further discussion with Ethan moved, and when he stretched in his daddy’s arms, both of them held their breaths to see if he was about to wake up. After making a few more more noises, Ethan snuggled as close as he could to his daddy, and continued dreaming on.

 

“I think he’s going to wake up soon,” Pepper said in an almost inaudible whisper.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You need to start getting ready soon. Let me take him, and I’ll stay with him until he’s awake,” Pepper said, opening her arms for the baby.

 

Tony shook his head, “No, I’ll stay with him.”

 

“But you’ll be late for your flight!”

 

“As I’ve said time and again, the beauty of owning your own plane is that you get to decide when take off is.”

 

“Tony,” Pepper began, and waited for him to look at her, “You know doing that is really not fair to either the pilot or Happy.”

 

“Why? They both get paid…”

 

“ _Tony_!”

 

“Relax, Pep, I’m only joking,” he said, flashing her a mischievous grin before adding in a serious tone. “I promise you that I won’t be _Afghanistan_ late but I am probably going to be a little late leaving here. I want to spend a little more time with our little man here. I _need_ to spend a little more time with him because I have a feeling the next few days… aren’t going to be easy at all, and if I can’t take you both with me, then I’ll just have to be a little late this morning.”

 

Pepper sighed, “All right.” She rested her head on the back of her chair, watching them for a moment before closing her eyes.

 

“Why don’t you go back to bed?”

 

She didn’t say anything for second, then yawned. “It’s still kinda early, so I think I will. Wake me before you leave?”

 

“Okay.”

 

With another yawn she stood, kissed him, and then left her two guys to have their time alone.


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh Tony, it's so good to see you,” Peggy Carter said as she hugged him as tightly as her waning strength would allow.  

 

“You too, Peggy. I'm sorry I've taken so long to visit you again,” he replied, kissing her cheek before pulling away and sat down across from her. 

 

There was a little disappointment in her eyes as she said, “It's always so good to to see you, but I wish you'd brought Pepper and the baby with you. I've been aching to have a chance to hold him, you know.”  

 

Tony smiled, “On next visit I'll bring Pepper and Ethan with me, I promise.” 

 

“I'll hold you to that promise, Tony.” 

 

Tony smiled, then turned to the reason why he had come on this visit. “Peggy, I need to ask you about something that I hope you'll have the answer to.” 

 

She sensed the serious turn this visit had suddenly taken. “What is it, love?” 

“Peggy, please,” Tony began, silently hoping she could answer this question, “Do you know  _ where _ my brother is buried?” After an exhaustive search, even JARVIS had been unable to find anything that might tell Tony where Steven had been laid to rest. He held his breath as he waited for her because he knew she was likely his last hope to find his brother's resting spot.  

 

After what seemed to be an immeasurable amount of time, she nodded. “Yes, Tony, I know where your brother is buried, and I will tell you.” 

 

“Thank you.” 

 

“But first I want to know what do you intend to do with the knowledge of where to find Steven?” 

 

“To start with, I intend to pay my respects to him. Then if I feel it's the right thing to do, I want to have him reburied beside my...  _ our _ parents,” Tony answered wistfully. 

 

With that Peggy wrote down an address on a piece of paper, and pushed the paper towards him. 

 

Tony took the folded the paper without looking at it and slipped inside his suit pocket. “Thank you so much, Peggy. You don't know how much this means to me.” He leaned over to kiss her brow. 

 

She smiled at him, “You're welcome, Tony. It's really something I should have shared with you a long time ago. I never thought that it was right nor fair to you for Howard and Maria to keep the fact you had a brother from you. In fact, I thought you should have been told about him as soon as you were old enough to understand and for what it’s worth I believe your mother did want to tell you but--” 

 

“But Dad overrode her on the issue.” 

 

“Yes, or at least, I presumed that he did. That was not a conversation I would have been privy to.” 

 

“But you did know that they hadn’t told me about Steven.” 

 

“Yes, I knew or it is more accurate to say rather that I suspected they had not told you,” Peggy confirmed.  

 

“You could have told me me back then, you know. I might have been just a kid at the time. Let’s remember that I was also a kid with way above average intelligence for my age. I think I would have understood just fine what you were telling me.” 

 

“Yes, I’m sure you would have understood but you must know that it was not my place to go against your parents’ wishes.” 

 

“You mean it was against my  _ father’s  _ wishes,” Tony replied, the bitterness heavy in his voice. 

 

Peggy sighed, “You’re probably not going to want to hear this but I came from a time when people did not interfere with how other people raised their children. You minded your own business and people minded theirs. Only family members had any right to object to anything they perceived to be an injustice and since I was only a friend of your family I hadn’t the right to say anything at all.” 

 

“Keeping to how things are, how they’ve always been done because that it is how it just is, has always been used by... cowards as a convenient excuse so they won’t be forced to step in, act to stop something they know very well is  _ wrong _ .” 

 

“Tony--” 

 

“No, I’m right and you know that I am. And you know that it’s especially true when the wrong was done to a kid in those days!” With every word he spoke, Tony could feel his anger building, and he only realized how much so when a nurse appeared in the doorway of the room. 

 

“Is everything all right in here, Ms. Carter?” she asked shooting Tony a dark look. 

 

“Yes, Connie, everything is fine.” 

 

“Are you sure, ma’am? ‘Cause it sure was getting loud in here!” 

 

Peggy nodded, “Yes, I am sure. Thank you, Connie.” 

 

“All right, Ms. Carter, if you say so but all the same Mr. Stark needs to keep the volume of his voice down, so our other residents won’t be disturbed.” After casting one last pointed look in the billionaire’s direction, she exited the room. 

Peggy waited some time to make certain they were alone before she said, “Tony, I know it’s not me that you’re angry with but Howard. I am so sorry that he hurt you like that, love, and I’m sorry that I didn’t do anything more to stop him from hurting you. If I had things to do over again, I hope I would have found a way to intervene but I can’t change what happened then. The past is the past and all we can do is try to move on from what hurt us then we just have to do the best way we can.” As she spoke, her thoughts turned towards Steve, and all the time they had lost together. 

 

Tony’s shoulders slumped, his anger burning out as quickly as it had come, leaving a raw, aching hurt in its wake. “I’m sorry, Aunt Peggy. I know it’s not your fault. The only person who it is at fault here is my Dad. I thought…”  

 

He paused, taking deep breath, his eyes bright as they met with hers. “I thought I had put all of the hurt and the anger he’s caused far behind me. I mean I know that short of inventing time travel, there’s nothing that can change what has happened or didn’t  happen between us. It’s just finding this out… Steven...” His voice caught again, and this time Tony closed his eyes. 

 

Peggy touched his hand, “It’s fine, love, I know what you’re trying to say, and it’s all right.” She saw a gleam of tears in his eyes when they opened to look at her again. “Oh, love, I--” 

 

The door to her room opened at the same time a bright voice said, “How’s my best… Stark, what are you doing here?” A scowl had replaced the smile that had been on his face when he saw the unexpected visitor in Peggy’s room. 

 

Tony immediately turned his head when the super soldier walked in, and unwilling to let the other man see his tears, he pinched the bridge of his nose before saying in a short voice, “I could say the same thing to you, Rogers, along with the fact that I also think that your timing really sucks but I was just about to leave anyway, so let’s just pretend that I didn’t. Okay?”  

 

Peggy was staring back and forth at them, her mouth agape as they’d clearly had forgotten she was in the room for the brief moment they had exchanged their terse greetings. She noted that when Tony stood up, that a cold regard had replaced the tears that had been in his eyes not seconds before. However there was nothing but warmth when he leaned over to kiss her cheek. 

 

“I’ll see you again soon. I promise that I’ll have Pepper and Ethan me the next time I come.” 

 

“You’d better!” Peggy replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek in return,  “I am a very old woman and I don’t have forever to meet your sweet little boy.” 

 

Tony blinked away the sudden tears her words caused, and slipped on sunglasses despite the fact he was still in doors. “I’ll see you soon, Aunt Peggy.” 

 

“Take care, Tony, and be careful.” 

 

He smiled at her, gave Steve a nod. “Captain.” 

 

“Mr. Stark.” 

 

And with that, Tony was gone. 

 

Steve turned to face Peggy, his mouth open to ask a question that she didn’t give him a chance to ask. 

 

“If you’re going to ask me what Tony was doing here, Steve, I’m sorry but I’m afraid that I can’t tell you. It is a private matter that I do not think he would want discussed with anyone except those he chooses to share it with, and given how cold this room got when you two saw one another, I know that you are not among those whom he’d talk about this with.” 

 

“All right, fair enough. I won’t ask what he was doing here.” 

 

“But?” 

 

“Well, Peggy, I’ll be honest--” 

 

“Are you ever anything but, Captain?” 

 

Steve continued on as though she had not interrupted him, “Well, Tony Stark is really the last person I’d expect to see visiting you. That’s all!” He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable.  

 

Speaking of uncomfortable… “Oh, for pity sakes, Steve! Would you kindly please sit down already?!! I am straining my neck with all this having to look up at you!” 

 

He blushed, and took the seat that Tony had vacated. “Sorry about that. Better?” 

“Much,” she said with a smile. “Now I want to know why you think what you think about Tony. Why were you so surprised that he would visit me?” 

 

“I don’t know. I guess I am just surprised that he knows you.” 

 

“Are you surprised that he knows me because you really didn’t think of that possibility or are you surprised because of your own issues with Tony?” 

 

Steve winced, “I guess it’s a bit obvious that we don’t like each other, huh?” 

 

“More than just a little, I’m afraid. But with the… animosity that I sensed between you two, it seems to be a little beyond mere dislike.” 

 

“Sorry, but that always seems to be the way that it is whenever we’re around each other.” 


End file.
